Arjuna Devar's Story

Another member among the Royal Guard, a bit newer than the rest, was Arjuna. He stood and watched as the man about to be executed begged for his life. He felt no compassion for the man, even though it wasn't his hands that butchered Shanthi's wings. He did feel that O'leary and that bastard Miles, who was the one who removed Shanthi's wings, should be up there with Joshua. He wished that he would have had the honor of beheading every single one of them himself. However, it was not his place to decide these things, so Arjuna would have to be satisfied with just watching Joshua's head roll.

A blue and silver winged spectator, this one not at all avorian, though he blended in well with the crowd, set his gaze up at Avantia. His brows were set deep above his eyes that day, casting a shadow above them. It was a grave sight. An event that stirred a profound sense of unease within his chest. Though he had long since pulled himself away from ocell society, he still held onto a few of their core morals. Executions were not a source of justice. They did not fix wrongs. Criminals were made to work and contribute until the day they died under strict watch. Only criminals that could not be captured were killed.

It was with this in mind that Tane switched his gaze to the man pleading for mercy, for forgiveness, before so many people. Before a queen. Before his executioner.

Was there no mercy?

Tane switched his gaze to Shanthi. Her wings gone. He could barely imagine what torture that had been- but the man who had sold her could not have possibly expected such a thing to happen, could he?

Shanthi probably pleaded as much as this man here, but she had not lost her life. Even so, she had committed no crime. Tane tried to justify this within his heart, because he was Volarian now. This was the place he had chosen to live his life. This beautiful city, this city that was so much more peaceful than Terra. Somewhere he thought he could settle down one day, perhaps-

-but he could not find it. Even with Shanthi in mind, he could not find it in his heart to justify this execution. It was murder. His gaze fell from the sight completely.

He had seen much blood and death, and caused much of it. This, however, was too troubling.

The AXIS delegation all remained quiet through the spectacle, all of them provided a near front row seat to the execution. Livia was chewing on some popcorn, with executions considered sport where she came from.

Another popcorn was place in her mouth and thoughtfully munched on, while her eyes moved over to the seated Prince, and the Matokeyan delegation. She always detested the small creatures, but those thoughts went unspoken as her eyes went back towards the execution that was unfolding in front of her.

Shimizu was seated besides Takara Sato, whom was dead center in the box seats to the Execution.

The Shogun shot Avantia a reassuring nod, before she leaned back in her chair.

Two Argosian Legionaries stood just adjacent to the Avorian Guard, they were posted by Vulpes in the event that Josh tried to escape. They stood in complete silence, like a pair of statues.


Everyone was poised to carry out the execution, no matter how much Josh begged and pleaded. His cries for mercy went ignored.

The Imperial Warrior behind Josh however managed to say something through his thickly accented voice.

"Stop begging and die with honor." He said, before he stepped back to allow Kamil to proceed with the execution.

The man that was about to die looked nothing like the man he'd once been when he'd chosen to take Shanthi off the street. He'd been starved and tortured and looked broken and pathetic now. He was still begging as the final preparations were made.

"Please! I'm sorry! I don't want to die! Please. I'm begging. I'll do anything."

Even as a man behind him told him to stop begging and die with honour, Josh struggled and shook his head.

Kamil looked briefly to Avantia, but the resolve upon the Matriarch's face had not wavered.

"Please. Don't do--"

The blow fell swiftly to silence Joshua's pleas as Kamil smoothly separated Joshua's head from his shoulders with a single clean cut. As he held his poise for a moment, Joshua's head tumbled free of the neck to land in his lap.

There was silence before Kamil was handed a piece of cloth which he used to wipe the blade clean before re-sheathing it. Once done, he offered the blade back to Avantia once more with a bow who accepted it as graciously as she had from Sato prior. She in turn offered it with outstretched hands to the Imperial Warrior standing at hand, to return it to Sato.

There were mixed emotions among the onlookers. Satisfaction, unease, disgust... not everyone was comfortable with what had just transpired, and many were unaccustomed to such displays. Shanthi herself had turned away at the last minute, and was looking a bit worse for the whole ordeal.

"Ira, Nalesh, go on and take her on back to the palace," Avantia instructed two of her royal guard.

The single Imperial Warrior took the blade with a small bow, and then moved to Sato so that she could take possession of the weapon.

With the sentenced passed, the Shogun turned to leave, along with the rest of the delegation, save for Shimizu and Livia, whom decided to stay and mingle with the rest of the spectators.

Vulpes slowly moved alongside the Legate, shaking his head in slight disappointment.

"This man was little more than a pawn in the scheme, the Mastermind still lives, in Terran custody." The man said, as Livia stopped and nodded.

"Justice must be served, Eliminate him." She said.

Vulpes nodded. "As you wish." He said, before he turned to leave.

All while Sato moved up to Avantia. "Justice has been served, to this one man, but his boss still remains. I can only hope the Terrans will see Justice served, as it's out of our hands."

"Thank you," Avantia told Sato. "For everything."

It seemed a strange thing to thank someone while standing beside Joshua's decapitated form, but through the whole ordeal Sato had shown herself to not just be an ally to Volaria, but a friend to Avantia as well.

"The scars of what happened will linger on for years yet, but perhaps this man's death will ensure that this travesty does not occur again, and that the world knows retribution for these heinous acts will be swift, and without mercy. Thank Prince Shimizu for me. We will not forget the assistance that was extended during this ordeal."

She would have offered her gratitude in person to the man, but the execution had left her weary. She nodded to Kamil as her men moved to escort her back to the Royal Palace. Others had been tasked to the matter of removing the remains of the body, and she needed not linger to oversee that.

In the crowds stood a woman who had watched the execution with her own eyes. The man had begged and cried for his life right up until the end. She firmly believed that his lesson had been learned before all of this and that none of this should have happened. There was no proof for them that the man had committed the crimes. There had been no trial and she'd lived here for over half a year now doing charity work. The whole thing had been so shocking that she hadn't believed it when she'd heard an execution was taking place and it was clear that the man hadn't know that his death was coming until he'd been told in front of everyone.

He'd had no mercy, whatsoever.

Well, she wasn't going to show this country no mercy either. The nation weren't known for their violence, but murdering a TNG citizen without giving him his proper rights was murder and she was not going to stand by and accept it. Avantia had now given her the power to speak up.

She watched the royals move from the stage. If only she had tomatoes, she would have thrown them then. But now was not the time. No, now it was time to call some people and start plotting. She wasn't going to get away with the abuse of her power. And she'd learn that for your actions there were consequences. Just like the man on the stage had paid for whatever his were by losing his head.

With that, she stalked off back home.

Miley's decision to physically drag Soneanna up onto the stage had been gasoline to the fire. To physically accost a member of the royal family was nothing short of treasonous. The gathered crowd was furious, but those that were favoring Soneanna's words were beginning to amass at the base of the stage to create a barrier of bodies to keep the outraged crowd at bay.

People were shouting and shoving at each other, and it seemed a physical confrontation was inevitable.

Large shadows passed overhead, announcing the arrival of Avantia's royal guard. Given their capacity for flight, they had arrived ahead of the police who were pushing their way through the crowds further down the street to reach the scene of commotion.

It was Ambar who spotted out Soneanna being held up on stage before the crowd of onlookers. "Shit. This is about to turn into a riot. We need to get her out of there."

The police were closing in on the location, but it would be a few minutes yet before they reached the scene of chaos. It was hard to say who was in more danger at the moment. Soneanna, or Miley.

"Come on, we'll keep the crowds back until the police arrive," he told those with him as he furled his wings and dropped for the stage below.

He alighted upon its edge in a crouch with his vishtafa held loosely in one hand. He didn't rise, and his eyes swept the crowd almost daring them to set foot on that stage.

Nalesh was flying with the guard and looked down at the scene below seemed worse than he had expected. Following Ambar Nalesh Dropped to the stage, Vishtafa in hand he landed in a crouch before standing up.

"Disperse Return to your homes!" Nalesh shouted aloud to the crowd. He knew he had orders to have the leaders arrested but he decided that the other civilians deserved one chance.

Once he spoke he turned his back on the crowd toward Miley. "Release the Lady Soneanna at once." He said giving Miley a stern glare.

Miley wasn't surprised then the Royal Guard appeared. "Oh look. They're here to chop off our heads too. Where's the one that did the beheading last time? I mean he might as well show up to hack the heads of the rest of us!" She called out, smirking. "See. They're here to arrest us and then behead us!"

Soneanna frowned as Miley continued and the royal guard showed up. This was bad. Really bad. And when her aunt found out she was caught up in the middle of it...

She was interrupted by Nalesh speaking to Miley and turned her head to look. The girl stood there looking at the man for a minute before bursting out into laughter. "I'm not even holding your Lady. How can I let her go when I'm not holding her?" The woman turned to the crowd. "You hear that? He wants me to let her go? I'm not even holding her and he's trying to twist this into me holding one of the royal family members hostage? Was I the one that forced her up here? I asked her up here. Other people merely helped her up."

Miley then frowned. "They want to make it look like I'm holding her hostage so that they can arrest me and behead me. Well let it be known that I did not hold her hostage! You are all witnesses today!" The crowd was getting rowdier, mainly the ones that were with Avantia, and the thought of holding a royal hostage.

Soneanna had had enough though. "Stop it! Stop this nonsense. I'm not been held hostage. Stop the violence! I'm sick of this! A man died up here. I get that it probably wasn't the right thing my aunt did, but we can't change that. Now stop with this nonsense and maybe we can sort it out." She was trying her best to reason with them.

Miley once again laughed. "What? Sort this out by lopping off my head and hiding the truth like your aunt. I don't think so! They're out to kill us for voicing our opinions!" Miley shouted.

Ambar scowled. "Lady, I think that crowd is the one that wants your head, not us. So might I suggest you shut your yap for five fucking minutes?"

Ira landed along with the other guards, planting his glaive on the ground and casting his eyes around. "That's enough," he stated calmly, "Nobody is going to be executed. But you are endangering yourself and others by holding this protest in such a manner - you're starting a riot."

He offered a hand to Soneanna, "Come on, cousin. You should get out of here before things get any worse. I'll escort you back home, or somewhere else if you wish. There is a time and a place to speak your piece on such matters, and here, in the presence of an angry mob is not either."

As the commotion gathered around the small platform where Josh had previously been decapitated. The young woman that seemed to be causing quite a stir attracted the attention of another figure among the crowd.

The auburn haired Legata moved swiftly through the assembled throng of people, flanked by Legionaries on either side, who shoved people aside with their shields and special batons.

"What is this travesty!?" The Legata called out, pointing up to Miley.

"Cease this at once! You're disturbing the peace!"

The blonde woman in the crowd stood, completely still, with her eyes up at the avorians who had joined the stage. She did not join the commotion that the crowd was making, no; she was far too busy scoping out the guards. Her eyes landed upon one certain, young avorian guard. She tilted her head to the side at him, and her lips pursed curiously.

Just before the legionaries joined them, she had targeted him specially, but not at all did she move. The excitement already called on from the situation would suddenly... be a bit more than exciting.

Perhaps a bit more than angering. Adrenaline-pumping.

Arjuna was furious with the crowd that was present. How dare they speak out against Avantia. He then caught sight of Soneanna being held held by one of the ringleaders on stage. His anger had reached it’s limits, and before he could even try to hold back, he swiftly advanced toward the man.

“You dare lay your hands on a woman like that!” Arjuna shouted at the man as he butted him in the stomach with the back end of his Vishtafa. The man collapsed to his knees and clutched his chest as he gasped for air. “And a member of the Royal Family at that!” Arjuna added as he brought the haft of his spear down onto the man’s back, putting him all the way down on the ground. Arjuna then activated the electricity in his weapon, and electrocuted the man. “That should teach you not to speak out against your Matriarch,” he spat before finally regaining control of himself. He deactivated his Vishtafa and scowled at the other people on the stage. He was disgusted with all of them.

"Shit, Arjuna!" Ambar hissed. "Was that fucking necessary?" he bit out.

This was going to look great in tomorrow's paper. Up ahead the police were pushing their way through the crowds as they shoved their way closer to the stage.

The Legata had finally made her way over to Arjuna and Ambar as one of the Protestors that was screaming against Josh's Execution shouted out, pointing towards Livia.

"Murderer!" He screamed, and then lunged at her, only to have one of the Argosian Legionaries clock him square in between the eyes with the hilt of his sheathed Gladius.

"What the hell is going on?" Livia asked, her Legionaries shoving people aside to clear room for the Police.

A shrouded figure drifted through the mob like a phantom as the chaos in the square escalated. His face was concealed in a dark hood, revealing only the faint glimmer of two pale eyes that shunned the sunlight. Baelin stood in the center of the crowd and gradually stretched out his hands to feel the chaos and strife flow through his fingers. Rage. Hatred. Fear. Heresy. A euphoric smile spread across the prophet's face.

It was time to spread the message.

A message of blood.

Miley's attention was turned to Ambar and she grinned. "You think I care? It'll prove my point because it'll be her supports that take my head, it'll just show how heartless and uncaring Volaria is now. How brutal of a nation it's become and I'll request it on live tv too, just like you did right here to that poor man." She spoke up, nothing seemed to close Miley's mouth.

Soneanna frowned as she glanced at the crowd and heard her cousin speak. She would have moved but one of the men was still holding onto her arm. And at the same time she wanted to stay and see out this whole thing. She wanted to help and dissolve the situation in some way. But with Miley opening her big mouth, she didn't think she would be able to calm the people down. And even now she was laughing and making matters worse.

"Oh go on, go home. Run away from this and your responsibilities like your aunt has. Like the Matriarch has. I mean, she sent her royal guard and hasn't come herself to explain her actions. No. So go home. Prove to us all that you're not willing to suffer the consequences!"

Soneanna looked at her cousin. Maybe if she stayed things could calm down. She could help things calm down.

"Ira, I think... maybe I should stay a little longer, just to try and calm things down. They're not going to come up on the stage. I'm okay. I just... maybe it's best that there is a royal here..."

"Dawww, the royal thinks it's best that she stays. What an honor it is that she feels like she should stay."

"I'm not staying for you. I want my people at peace. I might not be Matriarch but as the niece I feel like I should stay to help keep the peace." She told the woman.

Their attention was once again turned to someone else who was shouting at Miley. "Just remember it wasn't me that disturbed the peace!" She shouted at the woman. "I did not give the orders to behead that man. When Avantia decided to go ahead and behead him without a trial, without evidence, without defense and in public not even telling the man that he was about to die, she disturbed the peace. Not me."

Again, in all the chaos, their attention was taken back to Soneanna when she screamed at the sudden violence used with the man that had previously been holding her.

"LOOK!" Miley shouted. "They're using violence! That man made no threatening movements. He did nothing and the royal guard savagely attacked him. And when one of the Legionaries clocked another, it just gave Miley for fuel for her fire that she was building. "See! All of them! Savages and corrupt! Avantia has given orders to beat us all if we do not cooperate. Do we really want to live in a nation of no freedom or free-will? Do we want to witness more beheadings of people that could be innocent? WE CANNOT ACCEPT THIS!"

Soneanna frowned as the crowd got even wilder for different reasons. This wasn't going to be good. She wasn't a person that was made to lead, or speak to people, but she had to do something.

"Please, stop this madness." She called out to the crowd. "There are better ways to deal with this! We don't want to end up getting violent and hurting more people unnecessarily!"

The Argosian Legate put her hands briefly on her hips as she stared at Miley. "You don't know that." She said flatly. "You don't know the specifics of the case or how his punishment was decided. You're here disturbing the peace and disrespecting the culture of another country." She said, narrowing her eyes.

"This kind of behavior would get you scourged on Argos!" She called out. "So put a stop to this madness before someone gets hurt." She demanded.

Miley frowned at the Legate, her expression challenging. "And why don't we know anything? Because there was no trial. There was no options to find out what happened. There was no media coverage until he was brought here to die! I'm disturbing the peace that was already disturbed from the beheading. We deserve the truth. We deserve to know that if we ever find ourselves in trouble, that we'll have a fair trial first and not just be judged and punished."

And then another thought occurred to her. "The man that died up here wasn't even avorian. He wasn't even from here. What's to say that Volaria hasn't disrespected the country he's from. What about his rights? I don't care if you disapprove of my behaviour. I'm standing up for what is right for all people, Avorian's and others."

The Legate scowled. "You want to know the truth!?" She called out. "Josh was tried In Absentia by an international tribunal, under the laws of the AXIS Cooperation Forces. The evidence was weighed along with his defense, and he was found guilty of the crime by an international jury of AXIS Delegates." Livia explained.

Miley laughed. "You want me to believe that bullshit. Where is the evidence? Show us evidence of this!"

"Available to the public, all you had to do was ask, but you didn't think to do that did you?" She said, laughing. "Why don't you come to Argos and spout off like this? You want to yammer on about rights? Disturbing the peace; twenty lashes with a flagrum, speaking out against the monarch? You could have your tongue cut out and be crucified for your actions." She spat.

"You're nothing but a profligate, dissolute!" Livia shouted

"You've got no evidence to show. Shanthi deserves justice for what was done to her. Something like that should of had nationwide coverage. We should have seen and heard what Joshua had done to her. But it was all kept under wraps until that day. That only means one thing. That there is something to hide! Something we're not been told! Or that the Matriarch went against all rules and laws because of her personal involvement."

"I don't care about Argos and their punishments. What I care about is our rights. I want to know what gave Avantia to pass up on all the rules and laws and behead the man. He didn't even know he was going to die! Not until he was up on this stage and prepared. Where were his rights?!" Miley shouted back, refusing to stand down on the whole thing. She was here to prove a point.

"And this ladies and gentlemen is the face of the Terran National Government!" Livia shouted, turning away from Miley. "Their Citizens trampling on your individual identities and culture! All in the name of their own percieved rights!" Livia shouted.

"It's all there! The Terrans send agents to disturb this great nation! To spread distrust and chaos!" She shouted. "These Terran Profligates don't care about your individual cultures! All they care about is making themselves look like your betters!" People had began to agree with the legate. It was then Livia grinned.

"Maybe I'll go to Aslund and start a riot, way to represent your nation, lady."

"This has nothing to do with me or that man being Terran! If he had been avorian, I would have still been up here questioning why it was done. I am a charity worker from Wing City. I came here over six months ago to help the poor. I have enjoyed my time here, mixing with everyone. I have both avorian and human friends. I have enjoyed being a part of your kind and peaceful nation. Right up until I saw the horror three days ago that had a man on this stage begging for his life on national television. Tell me everyone. If that had been your brother, father, uncle or friend up there with no warning whatsoever, would you all be standing here today agreeing with me, or still with your Matriarch?"

"Why not tell me, had Shanthi been your sister, your mother? Your Daughter?" Livia called out. "Shanthi deserved justice! Not only should Josh have been on that stage, but that Wastrel O'Leary, and Miles Hagan too!"

"Like I've always said. I want Shanthi to have justice. The right justice!"

"Justice is not causing chaos, i'm done with you, Profligate, speak to me again and I'll cut out your tongue." She snapped, before she turned to a pair of Legionaries. "Venite et eamus" She ordered, and then turned to leave.